


Text Me Merry Christmas

by tricerahops



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 08:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2845109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tricerahops/pseuds/tricerahops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mindy wants to go all out for the holidays, but Danny shows her a simpler side of Christmas.</p>
<p>Music: All I Want For Christmas Is You</p>
            </blockquote>





	Text Me Merry Christmas

This was her first Christmas with a serious boyfriend (and no, she did not count the Christmases she’d spent with Tom, because they’d stayed in bed for weeks blowing through the pages of their dirty Advent calendar – not that she was complaining, but it was hardly romantic – and she definitely didn’t count that awful Christmas with Josh), but more importantly, it was her first Christmas with Danny, and it was going to be perfect.

“Danny! Danny! It’s snowing!” she said, excitedly poking him awake. She sat on the edge of her bed, sipping hot apple cider.

“Hmm?”

“It’s officially the start of our first Christmas as a couple! Do you know what that means?! We’re gonna go ice skating and watch the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center, bake dozens of cookies for the whole building, watch every adorable Christmas movie snuggled up on the couch, go on an enchanted sleigh ride through Central Park, sip hot chocolate at that hipster place in Soho…”

“Mmm…but you don’t bake,” he said sleepily, only partially registering the rest of her demands.

“Of course I don’t bake, but you do, and I’ll decorate them! I took an online course in sprinkles and frosting artistry, so I’m basically a professional.”

“Hold on,” he said, sitting up. “No way am I sitting through that Christmas tree lighting. Do you even know what that involves? There’s like a thousand people there, and a thousand little kids, and everyone’s pushing each other to see what? They just flip the switch and bam, the tree’s lit, and then it’s over.”

He took a sip of her cider. “Did you put rum in this? Mindy, it’s 9 AM!”

“It’s like I told you, Danny, you’re gonna have to get used to my rock & roll lifestyle.”

He had gotten accustomed to her ridiculous lifestyle, though – if half-begrudgingly – so he gave her the ice skating, and decided that a gingerbread Empire State Building counted for a hundred cookies. He’d ruled the sleigh ride out too, but he’d even grumpily accompanied her to the craft hot chocolate bar – he’d scoffed at the eight kinds of homemade marshmallows and 11 flavors of hot cocoa before he realized there was an option to add a shot of whiskey, and then he calmed down a little.

\---

Mindy walked into his office without knocking and leaned on his desk with her hands.

“So, what are you doing for Christmas? My parents are going to visit Rishi at Stanford; it’s his last year, and they’re tired of spending Christmas in the snow. Besides, I have a c-section scheduled for the 26th.”

“I’m spending Christmas with Richie at Ma’s house. She says you can come.”

“That’s so gracious of you, Danny, but I already called your mom and invited myself. I’ve already started curating the playlist and writing up the menu for you to cook – here, listen,” she said, placing her phone on his desk and pressing play.

“No, no, no, what is this? Ma doesn’t want Katy Perry in her home!”

Mindy rolled her eyes. “It’s ‘Text Me Merry Christmas’! It’s the most popular new Christmas song of 2014! And it’s not Katy Perry, it’s Kristen Bell, but for your information, Katy Perry would be welcome at Jesus’ birthday party!”

“For the last time, stop calling it Jesus’ birthday party! Who is Kristen Bell and what the hell is ‘Text Me Merry Christmas’? Why would I need to— Never mind. The playlist is already taken care of, and so is the menu. Look, we have our Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve every year. The Feast of the Seven Fishes. It’s simple, but celebratory.”

“Simple _and_ celebratory? I don’t know how to do that.”

“It’s Italian, we have seven types of seafood on Christmas Eve to represent the seven sacraments.”

“Oh, like sushi?”

He could tell she was getting bored. “No, not like sushi. Just come, and you’ll see.”

\---

Mindy’s family didn’t celebrate the religious parts of Christmas, but as a kid she’d always insisted on putting up a tree and adorning the house with lots of color and sparkle. Annette’s Christmas decorations, however, were sparse and plain: a tall fir decorated with globe ornaments, tinsel, and sugared cranberry and popcorn garlands (that Mindy snuck bites of, leaving the back of the tree sparse in the garland department); a brick mantel waiting to be adorned with stockings; tall white candles; a red and green plaid tablecloth.

Danny sifted through the box of Christmas decorations in his mother’s attic, pulling out red corduroy stockings with silver glitter inscriptions in all caps: Annette, Danny, Richie. “Ma made these when we were kids,” he said. “Money was tight, so she used leftover fabric. The first Christmas after my dad left, Richie insisted on putting his stocking on the mantel, because all he’d asked Santa for that year was for our dad to come back. That was the year he stopped believing in Santa.” Danny didn’t admit it, but that had been his Christmas wish that year, too. He’d sat with Richie under the tree, explaining to his kid brother that children who were nice got what they asked for, so he was sure their dad was coming back in time for Christmas.

He shook the memory out of his head and pulled out a fourth identical stocking with MINDY written on it. “Ma must have saved some fabric. Merry Christmas, Min, and welcome to the family,” he said, smiling. “Let’s hang these up.”

\---

Mindy joined Dot and Richie, who were hovering around the end table munching on cheese and crackers, getting tipsier on red wine by the hour.

“This cheese has leaves in it. Danny. Daniel!” yelled Dot, waving a slice toward the stove, where he was preparing dinner.

Richie turned to Mindy. “It’s aged white cheddar with rosemary,” he explained, “and I picked it out, because I decided to class this Christmas up a little. Doesn’t it have a great herbal flavor?”

Her feelings on the leaf cheese were more in line with Dot’s, but Mindy nodded and stuffed a cracker and a chunk of brie (she knew what that one was) in her mouth before moving onto a small golden cake she spied on the table. She did agree with Richie on the classiness, though, and was about to say so when she bit into her slice of cake.

“Uch! What is this cake, Danny?” she called out. “It tastes kinda like booze, but there’s raisins in it! What kind of cake has fruit in it, let alone dried fruit? I’m pretty sure that’s illegal in New York.”

“It’s called _pantalone_ , and it’s a traditional Italian cake, and we make it every—“

“Pantone? Isn’t that like, paint samples? They decide on a new Color of the Year every year for the fashion-forward designers! I didn’t know they also made terrible cake.”

“ _Panettone_!” yelled Annette from the kitchen, correcting them both. “Danny, I always regretted not having my mother teach you Italian.”

"Relax, Ma, I know enough Italian words to teach Mindy what things are called," Danny said before calling everyone over to eat and explaining the fare.

“Okay, so we’ve got seven fishes: linguine with clams and shrimp in a lemon sauce, stuffed squid in tomato sauce, lobster rolls, octopus salad, oysters, and salted cod.”

Mindy recoiled in horror as the salted cod arrived, a whole fish that looked like it’d been dead for decades with some weird funerary garnishes on top of it. “ _What_ is _that_?” she whispered, leaning over and jabbing Danny with her fork. “The oysters and the clams, alright. But I am not eating something that looks like it used to live in the war bunker in that Alicia Silverstone movie!”

Danny put his hand on her back and whispered back, “Oh, it’s disgusting, believe me. It’s _baccala_ ; it’s Italy’s worst fish. But it’s tradition,” he said, laughing. “We have to special order it every year.”

Danny took his seat, joined hands with Mindy and Annette, and bowed his head to say grace.

“Bless us O Lord, and these, thy gifts...” He finished the grace before adding, “And blessed be the company we share tonight: Mindy, my number one girl and the love of my life. Ma, my beautiful angel. And Richie, the best brother in the world. ”

\---

After dinner, Danny and Mindy slipped out onto the front porch to sip their coffee away from everyone else. “So,” said Danny, slipping his arm around her, “I thought you did well with such a mundane Christmas Eve. Proud of you, babe.” He kissed her on the temple. Maybe it was the Bailey’s Mindy added to her coffee, or maybe it was just the combination of being around Danny and the magic of Christmastime, but Mindy had never been so happy to share such an unexciting moment with someone.  She smiled and glanced up at the mistletoe hanging above them before pulling him into a deeper kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic ever (so be nice please, although I don't really need to tell you lovely people that). A million thanks to alittlenutjob for being wonderful and providing encouragement and feedback!


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